2015.09.26 - Home Again, Home Again
Jason Christopher's son is alive. Alive and home. The details have yet to really occur to Jason. Things like what has he been doing with a fae house for nearly a century. But then that was why they were here now. Why Jacob graciously decided to give them a little space as well. This was a moment when father and son needed to talk. To find one another again. Jason walks into the room he shares with, well that number has been oddly growing of late. Seemingly without Jason even knowing or seeing quite how. But presently it is empty of everyone. With him is his son. Jason gestures to the bed, which is large and ludicrously expensive. For himself he pulls up a chair, his gaze lingering on the painting a moment. She'd have been happy right now. So very happy. Sitting down he looks at his son, with undisguised joy. "Tell me. Tell me, everything." Ok well maybe NOT everything. If Roberte, if Sly knows his father at all. Maybe some details are best left unsaid. Settling onto the bed with a kind of dreamlike uncertainty, Roberte--who has, indeed, come to think of himself as "Sly" over the past near-century--glances around the room and rubs his hands idly against the tops of his thighs. He feels at ease here, almost unnaturally so from his point of view, and he has a lot resurgent memories to sort through. But, as Jason asks his question, Sly flashes a smile that may be eerily familiar. He really does favor his mother in looks. "Well, I don't... remember the start of it much. I just know that when I was a baby, Lord Ilex had me taken. I guess his soothsayer said I was going to die, so he decided that meant I was fair game, even though it broke the Accords." He shrugs. Obviously, Mab didn't agree. "So, uh... I grew up there. It was... probably weird. I was in the kitchens mostly when I was little, and when I got a bit bigger sometimes the stables. And... eventually they had me performing pretty often for his guests. I learned to sing and dance and... that kind of thing. It... really wasn't so bad. I still really like doing that." He pauses, uncertainly, and waits to gauge Jason's reaction. Jason Christopher listens, currently reserving judgement. Oh Lord Ilex was going to die. I mean he would thank him for saving his son, certainly. But then rip him apart with his own claws and fangs for making him a servant. That was a given. He was half tempted to tear apart his entire court, but understood the implications there of. He would reap a blood vengence someday for this though. Someday, of course had a much different meaning when you were immortal. "I would love to hear, and see you perform sometime Roberte." Sly might be the name he was used to. But his father saw him by his given name. "Please, go on. If you have anything to ask, as well. You have but to say." Sly nods, and though the name is a little unusual to his ears, he doesn't seem to mind it, either. He even smiles a little at hearing Jason say it, and he murmurs, "You're the first person I've ever heard actually say my name. I kinda like it." He draws a deep, slow breath, and explains, "Anyway, the fae were actually... pretty good to me. I was treated basically like family, at least their idea of it. But eventually I guess Mab found out. She sent one of her vassals, The Leanansidhe, to take me to her, and... then she did all kinds of magic on me. I don't remember that part so well. But she also put her geas on me so I wouldn't remember Faërie. It also made it so people wouldn't recognize me... it was to protect me. Then she sent me to Beacon Hills, a few weeks ago. I didn't remember anything, and I was just kind of wandering around. I was hungry, so when I found a store--it was Brock's gym--I tried stealing some energy bars. He caught me, but instead of getting mad at me, he let me keep the bars and gave me a job. So I could afford food and a place to live and... stuff." From his tone, he clearly feels a certain affection for the big lion alpha. Jason Christopher nods to Roberte. "I heard him mention when he saw you. That you had been living with him, all along. Recently I saved his brother. I held it as no debt. Yet here I had owed him such at the least. I shall thank him for this kindness he has shown our family." He keeps his thoughts on the fae to himself. Doubtlessly Mab saw an opportunity here. Realizing who the child belonged to, it was a wise political move. He would ponder how he wished to proceed there. Then he just can't really help himself. He stands from the chair, goes to the bed and hugs his son again. "I am sorry. I do want to hear more. But. I almost am afraid to stop touching you. As if. As if you'll just vanish again if I do." The words might sound odd in any other context, but Sly, Roberte, clearly understands them. He wraps his arms around Jason as readily as if he really had known him his whole life, hugging him tightly. It might even seem odd how affectionate he is, right up until he returns to his story, "I... man, there's so much. But I know you. I've... always known you. You never seemed far away tome. Every night, when I'd sleep... I'd dream of you. Sometimes the past, sometimes... the present. But I always knew where I came from. I always knew who my family was." Most would have trouble saying the words without irony, but from him they're quite sincere as he looks up to meet Jason's eyes with his own odd, silvered ones. "Coming home, it's... literally a dream come true." Jason Christopher swallows, hard, really hard. He is not given to tears. Not one to really cry or display emotion overtly. It is something he typically only expresses through song. But he manages to hold it back again. "I have dreampt of that day often...But not. In quite the same way. It has been more so even lately. But I can put it behind me now. You are here with me again." He sighs softly and strokes his son's back. Sly gets a more focused look, as if remembering something, and then reaches to put a hand on Jason's arm. "You... should know. Mab and I made a deal. It's done now, but I agreed to let her put me under the geas and do an errand for her. In exchange, she gave me protection and promised to bring me back to you. I guess... she did a big magic ritual, at the Nemeton. Or her vassals did. And I brought over the first seed of magic that let her extend her power into the physical world. She said anyone could have done it, but... she thought it was 'poetically convenient' that I bring the magic over. I'm not sure what that means, but... she definitely has a lot of big things going on. But I'm free and clear, now. She gave her Oath." Jason Christopher listens to Roberte and then nods slowly. He sighs and cracks his neck, tilting it side to side. "I owe them for saving your life. Yet, they also kept you from me for nearly a century. It is difficult to feel a sense of gratitude in light of that. Particularly since, even now, it was a part of something they wanted. If they were not ready to reconnect with the world, would you have been hidden from me for another century?" He sighs and brushes the thought away. "For now you are here. But later I will have questions I wish to see resolved." "I... don't know," Sly admits, grimacing. "I'm sorry. I know a lot about the fae, but... Queen Mab's plans are here own." The more he speaks, the more it's clear that his speech has odd patterns to it, where he'll normally speak exactly like a normal, casual teenager, but oddly formal elements or tones will creep in sometimes, clearly at odds with his demeanor, otherwise. He buries his face against Jason's shoulder, then, and stays that way for a few moments, silent. When he finally lifts his head again, he asks quietly, "I haven't seen you in my dreams for weeks now. Not since I came back. What's... been happening?" He asks in a way that's timid, as though concerned he's being disrespectful, but it's also clear that he really wants to know. Jason Christopher sighs faintly and says after a moment. "I, was in the verge of making a terrible mistake. Of doing something I would never have recovered from. But then, I came here. I met Jacob, and eventually some of the others you saw earlier as well. They saved me from, what I'd become after you and your mother..." He trails off some and then after a moment continues. "Jacob's strain of lycanthrope. They do something called imprinting. It is a process like finding a soul mate. Jacob imprinted on me when we met. It was a life changing moment for him. But I suppose also for me as well. My father, your grandfather is still a terrible threat to us. Jacob and I are together now son. But your grandfather still must be stopped. That falls to me now." "I always knew you'd stop him," Sly says in a quiet voice. He reaches out, finding Jason's hand, and places his own atop it. "And you still will. I know you will." He offers a small but very sincere smile and says, "I believe in you, Dad. I always did... always have." And, call it a result of having lived in Faërie as long as he has, but that appears to be that, for him. He doesn't even seem inclined to question it. Though, after a moment, he blinks a bit and asks in surprise, "Wait, you and Jacob are together? ...Huh." He doesn't sound upset or bothered by the idea, just surprised. Then he asks the inevitable question, though perhaps the only one that really seems to matter. "Is he making you happy?" Jason Christopher smiles softly at both the sentiment about his father. As well as the surprise about Jacob. "Yes. Yes he does. I was worried at first, about taking his free will. But I understand now, that's not how the imprint works. I've accepted it, and since then I have been happier." He smiles softly and reaches out, stroking his son's face. "I almost fear the happiness I have found recently. It means thee is something to be taken away. Something to lose." Jason smiles wistfully at his son and kisses his forehead. Sly considers this for a moment, gazing up at Jason with a furrowed brow, and after a moment finally says, quietly, "But having nothing to lose... is having nothing." He reaches up, again resting his hand on Jason's, a sort of supplicating gesture. "I don't want that. Not for you or for me. Any of us. We're going to be happy. We get to be happy." His tone is firm, almost urgent. It's something he needs to believe--and needs to believe Jason believes. Jason Christopher nods softly to his son and looks down a moment as he thinks of that. "Of course, you are right. These last few weeks have reminded me of that keenly. But the centuries I have lived...There are lessons to be found there as well." He has found happiness in the past as well. It just seldom seems to last when he does. So needless to say he has some trepidation at the moment. Sly cracks a sudden grin, and he says, "I probably shouldn't argue with you about life lessons yet, huh? It's basically my first day actually having a dad, and all." And then he gives in to the impulse and leans over to wrap his arms around Jason and hug him all over again, hanging on tight. Yes, the dreams meant a lot to him... but this is real, and he just doesn't want to let go yet. Jason Christopher smiles softly and wraps his arms around Sly in return. He just basks in the moment really. It was his son, His Son. He looked back over across the room at the painting he made. Softly whispering to it. "He is home...Mohammed prekrasnaya Illyana...He is home..."